Hilltop Resort Offering Variety of Adventure Tours

Lush hills surround the gray volcanic sand of Playa Hermosa on Costa Rica's northwestern coast. A protected bay and calm waters make this one of the country's prime swimming and diving beaches. On a snorkeling tour from Villas Sol Hotel & Beach Resort, you can catch sight of dolphins, sea turtles, and manta rays as they swim among rocky bluffs and coral reef. In addition to snorkeling trips, the resort—which overlooks the beach from a hilltop perch—offers a number of outdoor adventures including canopy tours, horseback riding, and rainforest walks.

Because of its inland location, Villas Sol Hotel is about a 5–10-minute walk from the beach, but shuttles making trips to the coast leave every 10–15 minutes to save you the hike. For those who’d rather stay put, the resort has a pair of pools—one of which has a swim-up bar shaded by a palapa roof. Onsite dining options include the flagship Heliconias Restaurant, where local and international fare is served à la carte for dinner. La Bahia Restaurant hosts buffets three times a day and boasts some of the resort's best views of the Gulf of Papagayo.

Standard rooms also showcase views of the gulf. Each has a private, furnished balcony with ample room for salutations to the sun in the morning and interpretive dances for the moon at night. Inside the rooms, you’ll find modern décor, dark wood furniture, and marble bathrooms.

Guanacaste, Costa Rica: Forested Mountains and Legendary Surfing Beaches

The province of Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica takes its name from the guanacaste tree, an umbrella-shaped species also known, less picturesquely, as the earpod tree. They blanket the slopes of the Guanacaste and Tilaran Mountains, which help shelter the coastline from rainstorms, keeping the beaches fairly warm and dry even during the rainy season (from May to mid-November).

Stick to the shore of bustling Playa del Coco and you'll find plenty of waterfront activities as well as a lively nightlife scene. But it's worth heading farther afield to take in some of the province's national parks. Marino las Baulas National Park serves as a major nesting ground for leatherback turtles, and in the north, Santa Rosa National Park is known for its legendary surf breaks, including one made famous by the documentary Endless Summer II.

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